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To date, PSUP has managed to realize the following achievements:
- Raise awareness on urban development issues at the sub-regional, national and local levels.
- Include urban issues in poverty reduction strategies, the United Nations Development Assistance Framework, the Africa Gender Index and other development management tools.
- Identify urban related challenges facing slum dwellers and corresponding tangible solutions.
- Identify priority projects and develop project concepts for implementation in countries on phase one and two.
- Acquire feedback from the country delegations in countries on phase one and two.
Additionally, there have been country specific outcomes and spin-offs that are found here.
Lessons Learned
Key lessons learned so far in the implementation process include:
- The PSUP process is not an end to all urban poverty, but an important contribution and a process to be complemented by other poverty alleviation programmes.
- Urban profiling is useful when analyzing policy thinking and implementation. The assessment of needs supports the development of solutions through governance, institutions and service.
- It is important to avoid a one size fits all approach when trying to find solutions to the urban poverty challenge, and look for tailor made solutions that will suit the needs of different countries.
- The PSUP approach targets far more than demonstration projects or field work. The approach aims for a change in thinking, the acknowledgement of slums and urban poverty as well as the need to define a better institutional environment for pro-poor policies, strategies and interventions.
- Strengthening dialogue amongst actors is a prerequisite to actual implementation of programmes.
- External expertise can help to inform national and regional processes as well as exchange ideas.
- Commitment to the process from regional, national and local actors is essential before the initiation of a programme in a country.
Replicating the approach
Additionally, a number of countries integrating enabling and empowerment concepts as part of sustainable urban planning have replicated the PSUP approach. Iraq, Afghanistan, Liberia, Sudan, Central African Republic, Egypt, Kiribati, Samoa, Sudan, Ecuador, and Vanuatu are countries which adopted and independently implemented the PSUP approach. Eldoret and Nakuru towns in Kenya are also undertaking replication initiatives. In case of Somalia a whole umbrella programme, the Somalia Urban Development Programme (SUDP), resulted from the Rapid Urban Sector Profiling for Sustainability (RUSPS) methodology.
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